Well, a collegue of mine talked to a rep at Samsung Sweden... He kinda confirmed that there might be something like this in the works. As Fred say, they want to improve their rep as camera company. They have sooooo much money to spend and want to be nr one on all fealds. Cellphones, computers, whites, TVs... Why not cameras?
However one has to consider if there is really any validity to medium format bringing a company any photographic prestige in the eyes of consumers.
There was a time when medium format had a definite and significant IQ superiority. There was also a time when medium format had significant prestige
in the eyes of the public. MF was the camera that went into space, that for example is not the case today.
Just look at the last two Pirelli calendars. Shot mainly with 35mm DSLR with a few shot with MF. This is the sort of high end luxury/fashiony/glamor
publication where Samsung would like to be seen, but if this kind of publication also demonstrates that 35mm DSLR and MFD are more than adequate....
well where does the advantage of having a MFD product
There is also another thing to be considered. Visibility. A company like Samsung would want a flagship camera that is going to be seem.
Not many people are going to sling big clunky MF cameras around their necks and stroll around.
I also think that if Samsung had the intention of making a big push in photography
that involved medium format in the equation they would have bought Pentax.
I think that when it comes to Samsung it's more likely that you will see more movement in a relationship with google than MFD.
Also with Samsung being an electronics giant you are more likely to see big advancements in sensors and camera operating systems from them that stuffing
megapixels into the older concept of MFD.
It would be interesting to see what a giant like Samsung could do with for example Sigma.